Power Plays in Kurdistan

The cruise missiles strikes the United States launched against southern Iraq last week, and the extension of the southern 'no fly' zone to a mere 20 miles or so south of Baghdad was President Clinton's chosen response to Saddam Hussein's military incursion into Kurdistan, where Iraqi forces took over the control of Erbil, the seat of the elected parliament of autonomous Kurdistan. The American action underlined the international impotence of the Baghdad regime, proved the circumscribed capacity of the Iraqi armed forces and underlined the villainy of Saddam Hussein. No doubt President Clinton thinks those results are worth the price of the cruise missiles but the ultimate political cost to the United States is likely to be considerably greater.